Naruto : Rise From The Rain

In the southwestern plains of the Land of Grass, a figure was sprinting at high speed. His pace was rapid, his face tense, and his eyes frequently glanced behind him, yet he dared not slow down.

Behind him, several figures were hot on his trail.

This man was a Konoha ninja. The reason for this intense chase was that while he was conducting a reconnaissance mission deep within the Land of Grass, his position was accidentally revealed. The rest of his team had already perished.

While fleeing, a black streak shot towards him from an unknown direction. The sound of the sharp object cutting through the air forced him to stop suddenly. He quickly held his kunai up to block, and in an instant, sparks flew as the giant shuriken, spinning at high speed, was deflected. The force of the impact altered its trajectory, leaving a long, narrow mark on the ground, with debris and dust scattering into the air.

Looking ahead, the Konoha ninja saw that two Iwa-nin had blocked his path.

The pursuers had surrounded him, cutting off all avenues for retreat.

It was over!

A deep emptiness filled the Konoha ninja's heart, and a complex emotion rose in him as he reached the end of the line.

The Land of Grass was mostly vast, open plains, with no cover to conceal his figure.

"Capture him alive. He might have valuable intelligence!" one of the Iwa-nin ahead spoke.

A living prisoner had great value. Their ninjas had means of interrogation, though this was only the ideal scenario. A reconnaissance team sent out on such a mission would undoubtedly have self-destructive measures in place.

The Konoha ninja's hand gripping the kunai trembled, and cold sweat dripped down his forehead. As he looked at the surrounding enemies, he realized that breaking through was impossible. He was not a powerful jonin.

But he absolutely could not be captured!

What should he do? End it here?

He gritted his teeth, a deep sorrow clouding his mind, and he momentarily lost his focus.

"Charge!"

Suddenly, a harsh command rang in his ears, and the Konoha ninja snapped back to his senses. The enemies swarmed in from all directions, moving swiftly without leaving any openings.

His eyes widened. With his remaining strength, he gripped the kunai tightly and held it to his neck.

"Ah!"

Just as he was about to use all his strength to end his life, the enemies in front of him suddenly fell. Their bodies were pierced through from front to back by a long white spear, nailing them to the ground.

It was not a spear but something made of white paper rolled up into a long shape.

In the next moment, screams echoed through the air as countless white paper spears rained down from the sky. A vacuum of space formed around the Konoha ninja's position.

Blood quickly spread across the ground, and the dozen or so enemies who had surrounded him had no time to react before they were all killed.

The Konoha ninja realized something and looked up to the sky. He could barely make out the silhouette of a figure in the light, with white wings unfurled behind it, the figure almost divine under the bright sunlight.

"It's the Angel of Dawn!" someone among the remaining enemies shouted in disbelief.

The Konoha ninja saw several dark figures speeding toward them from the distance, but clearly, they were not enemies.

"Reinforcements are here, retreat!" one of the Kusa-nin called out.

Just as the enemy was about to leave, several paper spears shot down rapidly from the sky, forming a barrier before them as a warning.

The figures from the distance quickly closed in. They wore the headbands of the Hidden Rain, with the leader being a young man with orange hair.

He stopped and addressed the Iwa-nin: "Please surrender; this way, you'll have a chance to live."

The remaining Iwa-nin looked at each other, unsure. Though their numbers were similar, the overwhelming presence of the figure in the sky made the decision clear.

Some of the Kusa-nin hesitated, but before they could act, one of the Iwa-nin attacked first, thrusting a kunai into them. The unprepared Kusa-nin fell dead on the spot.

"You..." Yahiko was stunned by the sudden turn, but he couldn't say anything in time.

One of the Iwa-nin sneered: "Don't think you can get any information from us."

Yahiko remained silent, watching as the two remaining Iwa-nin took up a stance ready for a fight, sighing softly.

Yahiko didn't give them a chance to engage in battle. Two paper spears swiftly attacked from behind, piercing through their bodies.

Then, Yahiko walked toward the Konoha ninja surrounded by the bodies on the ground and, with a light smile, asked, "Are you alright?"

The Konoha ninja, now realizing he was finally safe, collapsed to the ground, gasping for air.

"Th... thank you."

"We're allies, it's nothing," Yahiko said kindly. "My name is Yahiko."

"My name is Fuan."

"Ah, Fuan, how did you end up being chased by so many people?"

Fuan looked at the girl who had descended from the sky and noticed that all the paper spears on the ground had reformed into white paper and gathered around her, like countless white butterflies.

Yahiko, with a smile, took a step to block his view. "Fuan?"

Fuan, somewhat embarrassed, said, "Sorry... I was here to conduct reconnaissance in the Land of Grass. It was supposed to be a small team, but after the enemy discovered us, I ended up fleeing alone. I'm the only one left. I'm really lucky to have run into you."

As he spoke, he couldn't help but glance at the girl.

An angel...

He had heard of this title recently, but as he didn't pay much attention to the ninjas of small villages like Ame, he had thought it was just some self-promotion by the Rain Ninjas. However, after witnessing her kill so many enemies single-handedly, he was deeply impressed.

And she's so beautiful...

Yahiko said, "The Kusa-nin and Iwa-nin are on high alert for our reconnaissance teams. The Land of Grass is very dangerous now."

Fuan, thinking of his fallen teammates, felt a pang of sadness and then asked, "What about you?"

Yahiko smiled again. "We are here on a reconnaissance mission as well."

Fuan paused, and then immediately looked at the beautiful girl, deep in thought.

With someone who can fly in the sky, reconnaissance would be much easier.

He thought about the intelligence he had gathered and hesitated for a moment, wondering whether he should share it with them. After all, they had saved his life. But after a brief consideration, he discarded the idea—this intelligence was far more important than his own life.

"Then, please be careful..." Fuan said.

Yahiko's expression remained calm as he pointed to the direction he had come from. "Head that way. You'll reach the border of the Land of Rain soon. There shouldn't be any enemies in the area. You can safely return from there."

Fuan slowly stood up and bowed deeply to Yahiko. "Thank you again for saving my life."

He couldn't help but glance at the girl again. She was talking to her companion, not even looking at him.

After watching the Konoha ninja leave, Kyusuke walked over to Yahiko and scoffed, "This guy doesn't know how to be grateful. A simple 'thank you,' and that's it. He doesn't even offer to share any intelligence with us."

Yahiko wiped the smile from his face and replied calmly, "Don't talk nonsense. There's no way a Konoha ninja would do something like that. Besides, the intelligence they gather, we can gather too."

Konan had been talking to Asahi.

"Your suggested fighting tactics are indeed a good fit for me."

"I'm glad you think so, Konan."

"...You really understand Paper Jutsu. Some of the things you've come up with are things I never thought of."

After dealing with the enemy's bodies, they didn't find anything useful on them, but Kyusuke did find a letter—a family letter.

Yahiko took it and glanced at it. It was a letter from a daughter to her father, filled with longing and hoping for his quick return.

The wind on the plains was strong, and Yahiko silently threw the letter into the pile of corpses, watching it burn along with them.

"Let's go. We need to return before dark," Asahi said.

"Mm."

They had been on this battlefield for over two months, engaging in countless battles and witnessing death many times over.

What drove them to keep going wasn't hatred. Yahiko didn't hate anyone.

Evening.

They returned to the Rain Village camp, and Yahiko went to report the outcome of their mission to Kurozuna.

"You found the Iwa-nin's marching route?" Kurozuna asked, surprised.

"We just happened to run into them. Iwa has also sent around two thousand ninjas to reinforce the front lines against Konoha," Yahiko replied.

Kurozuna pondered for a moment. "It seems that the war with Konoha is really putting pressure on them."

Yahiko tried to suggest, "If Lord Hanzō moves, perhaps we can take advantage of the situation and make Iwa too distracted to focus on us."

Kurozuna glanced at Yahiko and said, "The major ninja villages aren't like us. Two thousand ninjas might sound like a lot, but how can we be sure how much Iwa can really spare?"

Yahiko was silent. He understood what Kurozuna meant.

But after so many years of war, could Konoha and Iwa really each still have nearly ten thousand ninjas?

Yahiko didn't believe it.

At the end of the day, Kurozuna and the Rain Village still followed one strategy: sit back and watch the tigers fight.

Yahiko said, "In that case, I'll take my leave."

Kurozuna nodded. "Good work."

At the Northern Border of the Land of Fire, Konoha's Camp.

This was the front line against Iwa-nin, where Konoha's elite forces had gathered. Inside the main tent, a meeting was being held due to some recently gathered intelligence.

"Iwa has reinforcements," someone said.

"These guys are planning to wear us down to the last man!"

"Has Hanzō of the Rain Village been slacking off? After all this time, he's still letting Iwa's rear remain so unprotected!"

The higher-ups were in heated discussion. The alliance with the Rain Village was turning out to be a disappointment for them.

"He extorted so many supplies from us, yet he refuses to fight with full force! We'd have been better off not forming the alliance at all!"

Two thousand reinforcements was no small force, and putting them all into the front would only increase Konoha's pressure.

But in reality, as long as Hanzō exerted some effort and distracted Iwa's attention, Konoha could quickly push through the Land of Grass.

The meeting was filled with various discussions, but Nara Shikaku, sitting in his seat, furrowed his brow in thought.

"Shikaku?" Minato suddenly spoke.

"Do you have a plan?"

At the sound of Minato's voice, the room quieted down.

Shikaku thought for a moment, then shook his head lightly. "The situation is at a stalemate. We can only keep holding on, facing whatever comes."

The others sighed. Life on the front line was hard, and the battles there were the fiercest.

The higher-ups continued their discussion for a while but ultimately couldn't come to any conclusions, so the meeting was adjourned.

Later, Minato approached Shikaku again.

"Could Iwa be preparing for a decisive battle now, sending this many reinforcements?"

Shikaku pondered and said, "It's possible."

Both Konoha and Iwa had allies, but Rain and Grass were in entirely different positions.

The Rain Village just wanted to gain from the situation, but the Grass Village had a blood feud with Konoha.

Minato said, "All the forces we can muster are already here. If it comes to a final battle, it would be very unfavorable for us."

Shikaku looked at Minato's handsome face and said, "If it comes to that, and we can't hold on any longer, we'll have to call back Lord Jiraiya and the others."

Minato froze. "What did you say?"

Shikaku spoke slowly. "In the Land of Rain, we have many ninjas stationed. They're a considerable force. Originally, they were intended to directly threaten the Land of Earth. However, when Hanzō of the Rain Village took charge of facing the Land of Earth, Lord Jiraiya had no choice but to stay at the border of the three countries, making his situation quite awkward. A force like that being tied down there is a waste."

Minato stared blankly at Shikaku, quickly realizing what Shikaku's words meant.

If Jiraiya suddenly pulled back, it would open a huge gap in the northeastern part of the Land of Rain!

This could spell disaster for the Rain Village!